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Well im waiting for my listing to reappear, I have been using overture and adwords to make up my traffic, for the targeted keywords that were lost.
I gained all my traffic back, by using more PPC, however my conversion is still down the tubes. The way I figure it, I was getting about 4% from Google natural search, and 0.4% for PPC advertising. I find this hard to believe, and maybe its just a coincidence that sales are down overall, and I would have seen this regarless of losing the google natural listings.
Anybody seen this effect?
are you targeting the same keywords?
are your ads targeted enough?
I'm sure you've questioned this but thought I'd ask.
Marra
IMHO, the natural search results deliver much better traffic.
I setup one of my campaigns with an affiliate ID to figure out the conversion rate - with a 30 day cookie.
I am still waiting for a conversion 2 months later.
Time and again users are telling me that they ignore the 'sponsored results', I reckon that a good portion of the PPC click-throughs are from competitors and industry researchers.
PPC usually costs more per click but converts a bit higher. The trick is you can only get so much business from PPC.
SEO is usually much less costly per click, does not convert as high, but can bring in a ton more traffic.
We've found you can get about 10 x's the amount of traffic through natural organic listings, and usually about 3 x's the amount of sales as PPC.
A well optimized marketing campaign uses both SEO & PPC.
[edited by: HayMeadows at 3:38 pm (utc) on Oct. 13, 2004]
Its almost like having a google listing adds credibility and boost's consummer confidence.
>A well optimized marketing campaign uses both with good tracking so that you can tell what works and what does not.
Are you referring to recognised branded consumer products?
Are you referring to recognised branded consumer products?
No. Brings up a good point, the site does need to be able to convert good quality traffic too.
We have done adwords and to a lessor extent overture, for ~2yrs.
For ~6 months we have enjoyed google ranking on similar terms to those we market on a ppc basis. Roughly our traffic to the site is ~250% of that which PPC only generated but sales (admittedly, a very rough gauge, but are market is not one that brings enough web orders to get solid conversion statistics) have increased only to about %150 of this time last year (comparing a period of about two months).
I would guess its highly industry dependant, we cater to a business crowd and I think they want to make purchases quickly without extensive reguard for price whereas a consumer might be more into SERP results because they are percieved as free and therefore the sites are percieved as less expensive vendors.
You have to pay one way or the other. SEO costs money just like PPC. If you step back and really add up the man hours needed to get sites to the top, and maintain them, it’s not cheap for anyone, even a one man operation. However, the traffic gained from investment in SEO, for us anyway, is much higher. It’s just been a better place to invest in, especially if you’re in it for the long haul.
You need to do both for a variety of reasons. One area we really got caught with our pants down after Florida was in paid advertising. We just had not been doing enough of it and had all our campaigns on the back burner and not really up to speed. You can always turn your bids down but have all your campaigns as optimized as you can and be ready. Practice this aspect when it’s not a dire situation.
PPC usually costs more per click but converts a bit higher. The trick is you can only get so much business from PPC.SEO is usually much less costly per click, does not convert as high, but can bring in a ton more traffic.
This has also been my experience. If you PPC is converting at only 0.4% you are not targeting correctly. I've had rates as high as 7% on PPC.
This feeds into a PPC discussion of maximum ROI versus maximum profits. You can get great ROI, but very little traffic - you need to find the right mix.
Its truly amazing that Google's entire revenue model, click-based advertising, is built on a house of cards like this.
Agree with Idoc - PPC fraud is a major factor if you are in a competitive industry and are targeting the primary keywords.
Its truly amazing that Google's entire revenue model, click-based advertising, is built on a house of cards like this.
If you are making a statement like this, then you don't realize the potential of PPC. It's quite easy to get a 50% ROI DAILY. It is just a lot of work and very competitive.
Very interesting topic, and quite frankly it never occurred to me that there might be a conversion issue, until we received this feedback from a customer who found us with PPC
One customer's reaction is just that - one opinion. My research shows that many people are willing to purchase through advertisements. In fact, they are probably higher quality than the SERP.
Here's another customers opinion: "I was surprised at the spam-filled sites I found in the natural results. When I look for a product, I only visit advertisers."
